Tag: Misogynism

The mullahs ruling Iran are actually encouraging, and forcing, families to wed off their girls at young ages

Yet another hideous phenomenon seen in #iran under the mullahs’ rule is the unthinkable practice of children forced off to mandatory #Marriages. The victims, who are placed into such situations at extremely young ages due to poverty, are left to face physical and psychological damages.

Young girls are the main targets of such inhumane measures, with the mullahs institutionalising these acts under Iran’s misogynist laws. And yet, based on human rights covenants, “child marriages” are considered acts of slavery and crimes against humanity. In such marriages, girls are actually sold to relieve their families of their economic burdens.

Iran’s children damaged in early marriages

This shocking phenomenon is so widespread the regime’s own state-run media is forced to react. The depth of this disaster can be comprehended from the words of an Iranian regime official, “Currently, 43,000 girls between the ages of 10 to 15 are married.”

“We have even witnessed girls under the age of 10 getting married,” said Shahindokht Molavardi, Iran’s deputy vice president.

There are families who cannot make ends meet and force their girls into marriages with individuals twice their age, according to a report wired by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. In Iran, 890,000 girls under the age of 18 were married off from 2006 to 2015.

“Iran has 10 million completely illiterate and another 10 million semi-illiterate individuals across the country. These are dangerous statistics and are directly related to the number of child marriages,” state-run Mehr news agency reported.

“The income division in Iran is yet another reason behind increasing child marriages,” the report reads.

“17% of all marriages are related to girls under the age of 18 and in 2015 more than 5% of all marriages were registered to individuals under the age of 15. These statistics do not include non-registered marriages.”

According to Iran’s civil law girls are permitted to marry at the age of 13 and boys at 15. This reactionary law even permits marriages prior to these ages, only in need of permission from a court and the parents.

“If these two parties confirm, #Children at the age of six can be legally married,” said Iranian MP Fateme Zolqadr in reference to this law.

Shahla E’zazi, a sociologist and member of the Tabatabaie University Board of Science said in 2015 the number of child marriages increased by 10,000 in comparison to 2014 and their divorces have also increased.

In Iran under the religious fascist mullahs’ rule access to true statistics of child marriages is impossible and the media expressed in the regime’s controlled media most certainly reflect only a tip of the iceberg.

Iran’s mullahs encouraging child marriages

Considering all the damages caused by child marriages, the ruling mullahs in Iran continue to promote such a practice. Mullah Mohsen Ghera’ati made repulsive remarks in this regard.

“There must be an urgency regarding marriages. Boys and girls must get married in high school (and not in college),” he said. This is a clear resemblance of the mullah’s misogynist ideology.

Children involved in early marriages suffer social and physical damages. The social damages includes unregistered marriages, lack of identification papers, number of “child widows” on the rise, violence at home and spouse beatings, significant rise in population of city outskirt residents, prostitution, children fleeing their homes, number of homeless people, deprivation from education, significant age different between spouses, self-immolation and suicides, low social and legal support, rise in drug addiction, lack of skills to enter the job market, lack of knowledge to grow children, rise in poverty and rise in child workers. (State-run Iran Online website)

Heshmat Alavi

I am a political activist and supporter for regime change in Iran. I write about Iran and the Middle East.
I tweet at @HeshmatAlavi